BUSINESS PEOPLE

BUSINESS PEOPLE; Major Shifts Made At Nabisco Brands

By DANIEL F. CUFF

Published: June 19, 1987

H. John Greeniaus, an energetic 42-year-old executive vice president at Nabisco Brands Inc., was named yesterday as president and chief executive of the big foods company, which is a unit of RJR Nabisco Inc. The appointment was one of several executive and organizational changes announced by RJR Nabisco.

Mr. Greeniaus, who has worked for Nabisco in several top posts in the United States, Canada and Britain, is a veteran of the battle with Procter & Gamble and Frito-Lay for dominance in the soft-cookie market.

''I missed World War II, but I didn't miss the cookie wars,'' the bearded Mr. Greeniaus said yesterday. ''Based on Procter & Gamble's latest announcement, we're declaring ourselves the victor. Frito-Lay slunk off into the grass earlier.''

P.&G. announced a charge against earnings last week to overhaul its cookie business and close some baking plants.

In the competitive world he lives in, Mr. Greeniaus is up to speed. Asked if he thought he was as competitive as the best of them, he answered: ''I certainly do. I didn't get this job by sitting back and watching the world go by.''

But he acknowledged that this aggressiveness did not carry over into other areas of his life. ''I play a mediocre game of tennis,'' he confessed.

Mr. Greeniaus will be in charge of a reorganized Nabisco Brands, based in East Hanover, N.J. James O. Welch Jr., a vice chairman of RJR Nabisco, has been chairman and chief executive of Nabisco Brands. Mr. Welch will continue as chairman of Nabisco Brands, with Mr. Greeniaus reporting to him.

Another big RJR Nabisco unit, the Del Monte Corporation, will now report to Mr. Welch, along with Ohlmeyer Communications, headed by Donald Ohlmeyer.

At Nabisco Brands, Charles J. Chapman, 47, who has been president and chief operating officer, was named to a new position of president for Nabisco Brands North America. Peter N. Rogers, 48, president of Nabisco Brands USA, was named president of International Nabisco Brands. Mr. Greeniaus had held that title, in addition to his position as executive vice president.

In another change, RJR Nabisco, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., named Gerald H. Long, 58, senior executive vice president and president and chief executive of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco USA, to the additional post of chairman of the tobacco unit.

Two units of Nabisco Brands, Planters and Life Savers, are being moved to the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Mr Greeniaus, calling the change a ''bold move,'' said those products fit with the marketing of the tobacco side in such areas as vending and distribution.

''That's the kind of move we can do and Philip Morris can't,'' he asserted. ''We're always looking for ways we can do things better than our major competitors. We're about to show them what a benefit it can be.''

Mr. Greeniaus grew up in Montreal and graduated from McGill University there. He worked for Procter & Gamble, J. Walter Thompson, Pepsico and Standard Brands in Canada and joined Nabisco when it acquired Standard Brands in 1981.

Mr. Greeniaus became chief executive of Nabisco Group Ltd. in Britain in 1984, then returned to the United States as president of Nabisco Brands USA's biscuit division in 1985.